Radio-frequency oscillator organization



Oct. 9, 1951 c, QBRIEN 2,570,840

I RADIQ'FREQUENCY OSCILLATOR ORGANIZATION Filed Nov. 23, 1946 OuTpuT QUFW'P- 1 ENTOR. BY 6 0 M HIS ATTORNEY Patented Oct. 9, 1951 RADIO-FREQUENCY- OSCILLATOR ORGANIZATION John C, OBrien, Rochester, N. Y, assignor to ei W si We ner R ches er epplicationNovemher 23, 1946, Serial No, 711,998

1 Claim. (Cl.

nv n ion la este o l ate f9; rediq communication systems, and, more particulaily pertains to an oscillator for frequency contra vices which will be -unusually"a'tit e ifisp ite' of the sluggishness of the control devices:

It is well known in'the -art 'that 'an electron tube inay be used as an oscillatonunder'the ca rtrol of a mechanically' tuned 'devic such as'a piezoelectric crystal; a magneto'strictive"device and the like. Such control of anoscillatof tube is: relatively, efiective for the produ'ctien of f'requen'c'ies "at the fundamental frequency of the control devicewithin certain ranges." However,

arena crystal, for e am m, is to be employed in' its harmonic niodeforat a've'ry lbw'funda mental frequency'fit becomessluggish of "relatively inactive; and unless the feed back energy supplied to the crystalis ofbsubstantial "value, the oscillator organization is subject to' unex pected cessations" of operation. Onthje other handf'if a sufficiently strong" f eedbacleis employed to cause the desired activity of the crystal in the oscillator organization, it may happenthat the oscillator organization will operate at'a freenemy characteristic of the circuit and indie: pendently'of the crystal; or other control'd'wce. Thus'fit may be said that one object of the present invention is to provide an oscillator or; gani'zation for producing frequencies in theharinonic or fundamental" frequency ranges of a control device, such as a crystal, o'r'th'e like, which organizationwill provide "sumcient feed back for the control device asto render it'u'nusually active while atthe same time being p qte'cted' against undesired frequencyos'ciilations difierent from the desired frequency of the'con device employedf Another object of the invention is to provide an oscillator organization which is adapted to cause unusually active oscillation at the selected freduency 'of the frequency spectrum of" the can; trol device regardless 'of 'whethersuch selected frequency is in the fundamental or harmonic mode of the device. A further object of the present invention may bee to'res'ide in theprovision of ac it or: gamz'ation whichwillprovidefeedbak energy in some way as to be cummauvewah espect to; the control grid of the oscillator "tiibe'to sus tain oscillatioii of the organization ini's'pite 'ofthe sluggishness in the'mchanical' v t controldevicebut which will caulse eutr'a tion of the feedback energy with r: r control grid of the oscillator tube for other than the selected f e uency if th generally speaking. and without attempting to define the exact nature and scope of the inven tion; it is proposed to accomplish the above pill"- poses the provision of an oscillator organization havingtwo feedback circuits connected in'a bridge type arrangement such that'the feedback energy one circuit is cumulative with respect to the feedback energy mthe other circuit so' long as the control device in said one circuit oscil lates at the selected" frequency butsuch that the feedback energy in said one circuit acts toneu' tralize the feedback energy in the said other circuit when the control device is not oscillating at the selected frequency." Other objects, "purposes and characteristic features of thep'resent invention will be in part obvious from the accompanying drawings; or "in part pointed out as the description of the inven% tion progresses. l

In describing the invention in detail, reference will be made to the accompanying drawing which shows in a diagrammatic and'ca ventional manner one organization of a crystal controlled oscillator for producing radio frcf quencies at a selected harmonic or fundamental frequency of vibration of the piezoelectric crystall "For the "purpose or simplifying the iuus'uag tion'end faeilitating in" the xplanatid'rif'th'e va ouspartsaridcircuits constituting the em? bo ifnnt'of the invention have been shown dia': grammatically andc'ertaih conventional illustrations have been employed, the drawings having beeni'iiadeinore with the purpose of making it easy to understand the principles and mode of 'opjerationtha'n with the idea ofillus'trating the specific construction and arrangement of parts would be employedin practice; Withreference tothe'single figure of the draw: ing, it willbe noted that a triodeelectron tube T isprgvided with'aheater type cathode. The'clin trolofthe heating element has not been shown, i'tbeing 'understood'that this can'take any con-j ventional form. Associated with the plate or anode of this tube T is a suitable winding hav ifig two parts designated LI and L2, but actually single air core winding having a mid tap connected to the positive terminal of a suitablepl'ate' supply such as the battery B. The negative side'of'tlie battery B is connected t6 thcathode of the tube T, but this battery is actually shunted insofar as radio frequenciesare ooncernedby'the bypass condenser C3. The winding LI L2 is shunted by'a variable condenser C2 to form a timed tank circuit for the plate and grid of the tube. The upper end of the coil" or winding 14:14 is connected to the plate the control grid when oscillations are established.

The crystal CR is of the piezoelectric type of a suitable cut and with a suitable mounting so that thecrystal can readily vibrate at its particular mode selected for the oscillator organizacrystal at its fundamental or base frequency.

This is because it is not mechanically feasible to provide crystals for fundamental operation much above 15,000 kilocycles. Thus, it is proposed that the crystal CR be selected to operate on its third, fifth or seventh harmonic corresponding to the frequency at which the tank circuit of the organization is resonated.

Referring to the drawing, it will be noted that a bridge type connection is provided with the portions Li and L2 of the winding acting as two legs of the bridge, and the crystal CR and condenser Cl acting as the opposite two legs of the bridge. To balance this bridge connection, the variable condenser 02 is set so that the tank circuit will not be resonated at the'desired frequency of oscillation for the organization. The variable condenser Cl is then adjusted to balance the bridge in accordance with the capacitive effect of the crystal CR.

It is well understood that a crystal CR has an equivalent circuit characteristic corresponding to an inductance, capacitance and resistor in series and connected in multiple with acapacitor so that the organization when operating at its characteristic frequency, such as its fundamental, or a characteristic harmonic frequency in effect is the same as a resonated tank circuit with a relatively high equivalent Q. The equivalent Q of a crystal resonator is dependent upon the type of mounting and structure, but 'usually provides a very high Q and in some cases is in the order of several thousand. However, at nonresonated frequencies, i. e. at frequencies different than its fundamental or harmonic mode fre-' quencies, the crystal acts in effect merely as a condenser. Thus, under the conditions being considered, this capacitive effect of the crystal CR is balanced by the condenser CI. .Under such balanced condition of the impedances in the bridge type connections, the organization will not oscillate.

After the bridge connections have been .bal-

anced, the variable condenser C2 is adjusted to plate connection and the control grid. In this way feedback energy, both from the plate connection and from the lower end of the coil portion L2, is fed to the control grid in an accumulative manner and in the proper phase relation to provide regeneration or oscillation of the organization. It can thus be seen that a substantial feedback energy can be applied to the crystal to overcome its sluggishness in operating at its harmonic frequency.

On the other hand, at any other frequency than the selected harmonic frequency, the crystal CR ceases to have the high Q characteristic and becomes in effect nothing more than a simple condenser. Since the radio frequency voltage at the terminal of the plate is in phase opposition to the potential at the lower end of winding L2, the application of these two potentials through corresponding condeners act to neutralize each other and cause cessation of oscillationfor any frequency other than the crystal frequency.

With'such a characteristic, it is apparent that the exceedingly strong feedback provided for operation of the crystal cannot in any way overcome the natural vibration of the crystal and cause oscillation of the organization at a different and undesired frequency.

It should also be noted that the location of the crystal CR between the plate and the control grid has a natural tendency to cause oscillation on its fundamental mode, but since the feedback energy through the condenser Cl must of necessity be of the frequency at which the tank circuit is resonated, this characteristic of the crystal is entirely overcome, so that the organ ization is maintained in oscillation at the selected harmonic frequency of the crystal.

In the above description, it has been assumed that the crystal GR is operated in its harmonic mode, for which the circuit organization of the present invention is particularly well adapted; but it should be understood that the crystal CR may be a crystal operated at its fundamental frequency, if desired. If a crystal is to be operated at a very low fundamental frequency, it is apparent that the crystal will be relatively thick and thus tend to be'rather sluggish. The present invention provides substantial feedback control so that even at these very low frequencies the organization is maintained in operation.

In all cases, the tank circuit including the windings Ll-L2 and condenser C2 is tuned to the frequency at which the organization is to operate and corresponding to a particular se- KSO with the radio frequency potential applied to the plate, which provides the inherent tendency of the organization to oscillate. Also, the crystal CR acts, at the resonated frequency of the tank circuit and at its own harmonic frequency as a resonated tank circuit causing a 180 phase shift in the radio frequency potential between the lected frequency of the frequency spectrum of the control device. Since the tank circuit will not be tuned for any other frequency than the selected frequency of the control device, the organization as a whole cannot operate at any other than the selected frequency of the frequency spectrum of the control device. In this way, a very reliable and active oscillator organization has been provided.

Although the embodiment of the present invention is shown as specially adapted to control devices of thepiezoelectric type, it is to be understood that other types of control devices may be employed such'as the magnetostrictive type, for example, since the organization of the present invention is especially adapted to overcome'the sluggishness of electroor magneto-mechanical control devices. r

. Having thus described an oscillator organiza-. tion as one specific embodiment of the present invention, it is desired to be understood that this form is selected to facilitate in the disclosure of the invention rather than to limit the number of forms which it may assume; and, it is to be further understood that various modifications, adaptations, and alterations may be applied to the specific form shown to meet the requirements of practice, without in any manner departing from the spirit or scope of the present invention.

What I claim is:

A radio frequency oscillation generator comprising in combination, an electron tube having cathode, anode and control grid elements, a piezoelectric crystal adapted to be operated at several harmonic frequencies of its fundamental vibration mode, a tank circuit having capacitive and inductive circuit elements tuned to a harmonic of said crystal, a variable balancing condenser, a direct curent voltage supply, a load circuit for said tube connecting said anode directly to said tank circuit and connecting an intermediate point on said induction element of said tank circuit through said voltage supply to said cathode, circuit means connecting said crystal directly between said one end of said tank circuit and said grid, circuit means for connecting said balancing condenser directly between the other end of said tank circuit and said grid, a grid leak 6 resistor connected between said grid and said cathode, and a by-pass condenser shunting said voltage supply, whereby the adjustment of said balancing condenser to balance the grid to anode capacitance of the tube and of the crystal when the tank circuit is off resonance, neutralizes grid to cathode potential to prevent oscillations except for the harmonic frequency to which the tank circuit is tuned, thus permitting the use of a relatively thick and structurally sound crystal in determining the frequency for oscillation comparable to the fundamental resonance mode of a thin and fragile crystal.

JOHN C. OBRIEN.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 2,066,027 Braaten Dec. 29, 1936 2,082,472 Tunick June 1, 1937 2,189,770 Samuel Feb. 13, 1940 2,256,932 Wolfskill Sept. 23, 1941 2,298,774 Parker Oct. 13, 1942 2,453,435 Havstad Nov. 9, 1948 

